1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an Internet facsimile machine for transmitting and receiving an image data via the Internet by using an electronic mail.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, an Internet facsimile communication system applying an Internet facsimile machine for transmitting and receiving an image data via the Internet by using an electronic mail is proposed in the ITU-T recommendation T.37. According to this Internet facsimile machine, an electronic mail including an image data is transmitted under SMTP format to a mail server machine (gateway machine) of the receiving side via a mail server machine (gateway machine) of the transmitting side and the Internet. The Internet facsimile machine of the receiving side accesses to the mail server machine of the receiving side under POP3 format, receives the electronic mail including the image data, and prints out the received image data by using an image recording unit.
The conventional Internet facsimile communication system is constructed as to transmit an image data to the receiving side from the transmitting side unilaterally. Therefore, exchanging of the functions of one another between the transmitting side and the receiving side cannot be carried out. Thus, there are problems such that the received image data cannot be regenerated or the functions cannot be performed fully.